Cherry Surprise

Level of Difficulty: Medium
Serves: 42

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!This recipe is early, but I am completing my holiday baking and I would like to share it with you before the holidays.

This recipe completes my Christmas baking for this year!! The following are my Favorites for the Holiday Season:

Nanaimo Bars

Medjool Jewels

Ginger Snap Cookies

Sugar Cookies

Brown Cookies

Pignoli Cookies

Makes 42 where each one has approximately:

92 Calories, 9g Carbs, 7g Fat, 1g Protein

Ginger Snap Cookies

Level of Difficulty: Medium
Serves: 48

Ginger Snap Cookies are one of my Mother's Holiday Classics. Inspired by her recipe I used to Cup4Cup Gluten Free Flour (feel free to use a different GF Flour, but be warned your mileage may vary) to create a Gluten Free Ginger Snap Cookie. This is a great recipe to make with kids, and they make the house smell delicious!

Ginger Snap Cookies

I brought these cookies into a class recently and they disappeared in seconds!

Makes approximately 48 cookies where each one has approximately:

69 Calories, 10g Carbs, 3g Fat, 0g Protein

Cream Puffs

Level of Difficulty: Medium
Serves: 8

This is one of my favorite recipes for entertaining, Gluten Free Cream Puffs!!  People cannot tell the difference between these and the Gluten filled version. 

Sorry for this week's delay in posting a recipe, I was celebrating my birthday and I had the privileged of going to the Opening Night of John Grisham's "A Time to Kill" on Broadway. I was watching the stars at the event and it took till this weekend to recover. It was fantastic. They did an amazing job of adapting the Book/Movie to the stage. This is high praise coming from me, since I tend to get bored watching live theater. I highly recommend getting tickets if you are in the New York area this holiday season. 

Now back to the recipe...  The timing of this recipe is important. Otherwise, this is an easy recipe. If you follow the directions, you will get great results every time.

Cream Puff

This recipe makes ~8 Cream Puffs that take 3 bites to eat as shown the pics above.   I also like to make smaller bite sized Cream Puffs. The recipe makes about 15 bite sized Puffs. They are easier to eat and there is no evidence left behind when it can be eaten in one bite :)


Makes approximately 8 Cream Puffs where each shell has approximately:

100 Calories, 7g Carbs, 13g Fat, 2g Protein

Add an additional 200 Calories for filling and icing.

Nanaimo Bars

Level of Difficulty: Medium
Serves: 28

The best way to describe this is Chocolatey, Buttery, Goodness. This is a gluten free recipe for Nanaimo Bars. These are a Canadian Favorite. Since Canadian Thanksgiving is just over a week away, I would like to share a Thanksgiving and Christmas tradition in my house.  If you are looking for more Thanksgiving recipes checkout my recipe for Pumpkin Custard with Maple Whipped Cream. 

Nanaimo Bars

This recipe will take several hours to make, since each layer needs to set before the next layer is added.

These taste so good it hurts to print the calorie content, but here it is .... Makes 28 bars where each one has approximately:

226 Calories, 22g Carbs, 15g Fat, 2g Protein

Orange Spice Pancakes

Level of Difficulty: Medium
Serves: 6

This is a great recipe for a lazy Saturday morning. This recipe for Orange spice pancakes is yummy and in addition to being Gluten Free, it is also Dairy Free.

Orange Spice Pancakes

Makes ~12 pancakes where each one has approximately:

138 Calories, 26g Carbs, 3g Fat, 3g Protein

Brown Cookies

Level of Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 48

These are a fall favorite. Brown cookies are great item to add to a brown bag lunch or holiday celebration.  These are inspired by my Mother's recipe. The original recipe used Oats. I have been Gluten Free for years, therefore I grew up not eating oats. In recent years, some researchers believe that Oats may be Gluten Free. I have been living without for most of my life, so I continue to avoid them.  Feel free to use Oats instead of the Cereal, if you are comfortable.

Brown Cookies

The mixture of Corn Flakes and Rice Krispies give the cookies a crunchy and Chewy texture.

Makes ~48 cookies where each one has approximately:

74 Calories, 11g Carbs, 3g Fat, 0g Protein

Pignoli Cookies

Level of Difficulty: Medium
Serves: 48

Pignoli Cookies are an Italian favorite and naturally Gluten Free!!! I discovered these delectable goodies at a Bakery in New York City.  After experiencing these cookies, the quest was on to find a recipe!!

Pignoli Cookies

This is best recipe I have found and they are almost as good as the ones from the Bakery.

Makes ~48 cookies where where each one has approximately:

74 Calories, 7g Carbs, 5g Fat, 2g Protein

Banana Bread

Level of Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 10

This is my mom's recipe for Gluten Free Banana Bread and it has stood the test of time. It is moist and delicious. On special occasions I top it with Cream Cheese Icing, the recipe may be found here.  

Banana Bread

Makes ~10 slices where each one has approximately:

257 Calories, 48g Carbs, 6g Fat, 3g Protein

Nutritional information does not include the optional chocolate chips and/or nuts.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

Level of Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 48


I recently hosted a Baby shower for a friend who was having a baby girl. This is the third and last post on the desserts I made for the baby shower. See my previous posts for the Sugar Cookies, and Panna Cotta recipes.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

These are easy bite sized Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing. I decorated the cupcakes with edible chocolate letters. Unlike all of my previous posts, this is not completely homemade. The icing is homemade but the cupcake is a based on a Cake Mix.  I used Pamela's Choclate Cake Mix with an extra 1/4 cup of Cocoa. I find the extra chocolate gives it a better depth of flavor. 

I made these for a baby shower, but they are also a great idea for Mother's day!

Makes ~48 mini cupcakes, where each one has approximately:

105 Calories,  17g Carbs,  2g Fat,  1g Protein

Strawberry and Lime Panna Cotta

Level of Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 10

I recently hosted a Baby shower for a friend who was having a baby girl. This is the second of 3 posts on the desserts I made for the baby shower. See my previous post for the Sugar Cookie recipe.

This recipe for Strawberry and Lime Marscarpone Panna Cotta is an easy, high impact recipe. It takes very little time and skill to prepare, and tastes fantastic!!  I gave it a "wow" factor by purchasing some small decorative dessert dishes from Party City,which made it look like a professionally prepared dessert. 

Strawberry and Lime Panna Cotta and Sugar Cookies

Strawberry and lime are refreshing complementary flavors. I wanted a pink dessert for the baby girl. If this was a shower for a boy, blueberries could be used in place of the Strawberry.

Stay tuned the 3rd and final recipe from the shower will be for Chocolate cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing!!

Makes 10 servings where each one has approximately:

102 Calories,  2g Carbs,  10g Fat,  1g Protein

Sugar Cookies

Level of Difficulty: Medium - Easy if you have good rolling skills

Serves: 48

I recently hosted a Baby shower for a friend who was having a baby girl. This is the first of 3 posts on the desserts I made for the baby shower. I made Gluten Free Sugar cookies for a group of women who were not on a Gluten free diet. They did not notice they were gluten free. In fact, they all magically disappeared, leaving me without leftovers.

Sugar Cookies

This recipe is Inspired by my Mother’s Sugar Cookie recipe. I substituted Cup4Cup Gluten Free Flour.  I have tried many, many recipes for sugar cookies, and they always end up  as a big blob on the baking tray in the oven.  Using Cup4Cup is the only time I have ever been successful  Feel free to use a different flour but be warned your mileage may vary.

These were decorated by sprinkling them with pink decorating sugar before they were baked. 

Sugar Cookies and Strawberry and Lime Panna Cotta

My next post will be the recipe for the Panna Cotta pictured with the cookies above. 

Makes ~48 small cookies where each one has approximately:

77 Calories,  10g Carbs,  4g Fat,  1g Protein

Crepes

Level of Difficulty: Hard (Easy if you have a good flipping technique)
Servings: 30

My favorite Frenchman decided we should try to make Gluten Free Crepes. I did not think it was possible, but with the help of C4C Gluten Free flour we did it!!

My friends Damien and Conrad, preparing to flip the Crepe

They were scrumptious!!! Crepes can be filled with a savory filling for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, like ham, cheese, eggs, or anything you can imagine. They can also be filled with sweet items as a desert.  We filled ours with the chocolatey, hazel-nutty goodness of Nutella.

Yummy Nutella

Makes ~30 where each crepe (does not include filling) has approximately:

55 Calories, 8g Carbs, 1g Fat, 2g Protein

Medjool Jewels

Level of Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 48

This is one of my favorite Christmas deserts and it is my Grandmother's recipe.  Medjool dates are the key ingredient in this recipe.  I have made it with different dates, but... they weren't worth the calories.

This may be pressed into a pan and topped with coconut or rolled into balls and coated with coconut. I prefer to roll them into bite sized balls.  There's no evidence left behind when they are bite sized.  :)

Medjool Jewels

Makes ~48 where each one has approximately:

50 Calories, 14g Carbs, 2g Fat, 1g Protein

Pumpkin Custard with Maple Whipped Cream

Level of Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 10

Pumpkin and Maple is a beautiful flavor combination. This recipe is inspired by my Mother's Pumpkin Pie and my love of Maple Syrup.

Pumpkin Custard

It is an easy recipe and with a wow factor. It is cooked and served in the same dish. I use 7oz or smaller ramekins for this recipe.  The 7oz ramekins make ~10 servings. Based on 10 servings, each serving (including whipped cream) has approximately:

250 Calories, 35g Carbs, 11g Fat, 4g Protein